I've been playing Avernum IV for a while now and I'm in the need for some tips and I have some questions for folks that have played through the game. I'm curious about some of the items I'm finding, not sure whether to sell them or not.

I've been finding a lot of green bug arms laying around, I can't sell them but I don't know if eventually someone will want some as a quest so I've been saving a number of them. Should I not bother?

I have a number of rubies and emeralds. Can these be used to construct weapons like the focusing crystals or are they purely to sell to get more money?

In turn I have acquired a number of non magical rings and necklaces. Will I eventually find a craftsman who will be able to attach focusing crystals to these items or again, are they just for me to sell to make money?

I've been playing Avernum IV for a while now and I'm in the need for some tips and I have some questions for folks that have played through the game. I'm curious about some of the items I'm finding, not sure whether to sell them or not.

I've been finding a lot of green bug arms laying around, I can't sell them but I don't know if eventually someone will want some as a quest so I've been saving a number of them. Should I not bother?

I have a number of rubies and emeralds. Can these be used to construct weapons like the focusing crystals or are they purely to sell to get more money?

In turn I have acquired a number of non magical rings and necklaces. Will I eventually find a craftsman who will be able to attach focusing crystals to these items or again, are they just for me to sell to make money?

I'm about 2/3 of the way through.
Emeralds can in fact be used to construct items when you reach the western part of the world (Dharmon, etc). Not sure about rubies thuugh.

Non-magical rings and necklaces are safe to simply pawn off for extra gold.

I've been wondering about those Emeralds too. I was so frustrated when I got to the fellow who can craft special cloaks for you only to discover I had literally two minutes before ditched most of the sorts of things he wanted.

We need some sort of list of junk to hang onto. I'm going to edit my first post to contain that list.

Add Gold Bars to that list.
You don't necessarily need them, but they can be used later on in the game to craft armor along with emeralds.

Also, if your party contains magic users, it's good to stock up on those various herbs & grasses (like graymold, etc) with which you can have a potion maker turn into Energy potions (to refill your mage and priest's MP)

While you folks are stock-piling, remember that you can stash stuff in towns and so forth; otherwise your characters will be encumbered way too easily. This is especially true for the quartermaster quests for bags of meal and wine.

It might be worth noting that after you've finished the quartermaster quests there is absolutely no reason to ever pick up a wine bottle again. Well, unless you want to drink it, I suppose.

Good additions, thanks folks. George, I have a couple of big stashes in two cities, nobody ever walks off with anything I've stashed. I have everything labeled with a "Property of tBC" sticker. Everything else I sell even if I only get one coin for it, wine can be sold, too so I bring back every bottle, sandal, pick & shovel, ceramic pot and rope I find. ANYTHING that can be sold gets hauled back into town with me... er... including anything that's not nailed down in the cities themself.

Good additions, thanks folks. George, I have a couple of big stashes in two cities, nobody ever walks off with anything I've stashed. I have everything labeled with a "Property of tBC" sticker. Everything else I sell even if I only get one coin for it, wine can be sold, too so I bring back every bottle, sandal, pick & shovel, ceramic pot and rope I find. ANYTHING that can be sold gets hauled back into town with me... er... including anything that's not nailed down in the cities themself.

Heh, that was my strategy in the earlier games too. After I had cleared out an area of enemies, I would ditch most of my normal equipment somewhere in town, and then go back and grab pretty much everything - just walk into an area, hit 'g', then keep pressing 'a' until the whole list of stuff was off the ground an in my party's packs - shoddy stone daggers, wooden bowls and spoons, candles, etc.

Good additions, thanks folks. George, I have a couple of big stashes in two cities, nobody ever walks off with anything I've stashed. I have everything labeled with a "Property of tBC" sticker. Everything else I sell even if I only get one coin for it, wine can be sold, too so I bring back every bottle, sandal, pick & shovel, ceramic pot and rope I find. ANYTHING that can be sold gets hauled back into town with me... er... including anything that's not nailed down in the cities themself.

Yikes that's hard core.

Also: I've found energy potions and elixirs to be one of the most valuable items ever. I hoard them like a drake.

What about special abilities? I've found that once you reach a certain level with certain attributes, some of the special abilities that were previously only boosted by items (like Magery and Parry) can be trained.

Finally: egads, aren't splitting slimes and poisonous bushes such a pain in the ass?

What about cloth and thread? Will I need that later for a quest, or for magical underpants etc or should I just sell it?

I don't recall any quests that required cloth or thread, so I usually just sell it. Cloth in particular seems to fetch a decent profit and there's plenty of it in bandit lairs so don't hesitate to dispose of it.

Also, I noticed you have Icy Geode listed. Might as well add Swamp Geode and Glowing Basalt to that list. There are quests that involve these three items in some capacity, so it's handy to have at least one of each on hand if possible.

Also: I've found energy potions and elixirs to be one of the most valuable items ever. I hoard them like a drake.

What about special abilities? I've found that once you reach a certain level with certain attributes, some of the special abilities that were previously only boosted by items (like Magery and Parry) can be trained.

Finally: egads, aren't splitting slimes and poisonous bushes such a pain in the ass?

Heh, well I suppose hoarding and selling mundane items is a key component to Spiderweb's games. You will need money in this game, and you don't come across huge gold stashes in the wild so this is one way to keep your bank balance healthy.

I've only had the opportunity to upgrade Magery and Parry so far with regard to special abilities. I haven't figured out how/when you trigger the ability to train them though.

And yep, slimes are a major pain. Just wait till you meet up with the explosive variety. lol!

Finally: egads, aren't splitting slimes and poisonous bushes such a pain in the ass?

You mean the poisonous bushes that restore their health and poison multiple members of the party in a single attack? The best way to defeat those punks are to stand back so only one member can get poisoned and have them step up to the position one at a time. Have your mage cast the haste spell on all party members before you fight and saturate the plant with attacks before it can restore it's health. Also make sure the mage's first attack includes acid, that way when it comes time for it to restore it's health it also takes damage from the acid. The same tactics are good for Submission Fungi.

MacProject, on February 1st 2006, 08:59 PM, said:

Also, I noticed you have Icy Geode listed. Might as well add Swamp Geode and Glowing Basalt to that list. There are quests that involve these three items in some capacity, so it's handy to have at least one of each on hand if possible.

Added, thanks!

totallywhacked, on February 1st 2006, 11:26 PM, said:

I think I've played every spiderweb game except exile 1.
It is interesting how much useless crap he includes in the games. Here's a short list:

That's scenery. It's important for the atmosphere of the game. Not to mention dice, thread, pants, shirts, and shoes can all be sold, you need money to buy training, spells and potions. Sell everything you can lay your larcenous hands on!

I wish there were still books. In Exile 3, I started a library in that house you can buy. Eventually I had so many books along with other random items in the house that the game told me I couldn't drop any more!

Ah, back when I had waaay too much time on my hands.

A quick comment about this list. I wouldn't bother saving everything listed on here, especially things like emeralds and rubies. Though they can be used to make wands and such, I found that I almost never used them and found the extra income from selling them to be more useful.

I wouldn't bother saving everything listed on here, especially things like emeralds and rubies. Though they can be used to make wands and such, I found that I almost never used them and found the extra income from selling them to be more useful.

Wands and such. I've added "wands" to the list of what emeralds and rubies are good for. Please clarify what the "such" is so that I can add that to the list. Can you verify for me that they are also used in armor?